Crates vs. cardboard
How Many Moving Crates Do I Need? A Room-by-Room Sizing Guide
Published May 17, 2026 · 6 min read
Studio through 5+ bedroom sizing logic for Kansas City moves, plus the room-by-room factors that push your crate count up or down so you don't end up short on packing day.
The single most common question people ask before they book crate rentals: how many do I actually need? Order too few and you’re driving to the rental yard on packing day. Order too many and you’ve paid for crates that sit empty in the garage.
👉 Use our interactive sizing calculator to get a recommendation in 30 seconds, or read on for the room-by-room sizing logic we use for Kansas City moves.
The general rule
The working baseline across the industry is roughly 20 crates per bedroom, plus 5–10 for shared spaces like the kitchen, living room, and bathrooms.
That’s a starting point — not a guarantee.
Your real number depends on how much you own, how dense it is, and how willing you are to make multiple trips on move day. A useful sanity check: most standard plastic moving crates hold about 2.5 cubic feet — roughly the volume of a large cardboard moving box. If you’ve moved before with cardboard, you can ballpark your needs by remembering how many large boxes you used and adding 10–15% (because crates don’t pack quite as tightly as cardboard can be cut and folded).
By home size
Studio apartment (up to 500 sq ft) — 20 crates and 1 dolly is enough for most.
Kitchen items, clothing, books, and bath supplies all fit comfortably.
Add 5 crates if you have a heavy book or vinyl collection. 1-bedroom apartment (500–1,000 sq ft) — 30 crates and 2 dollies is the sweet spot. This sizes for a typical couple or solo move with a real kitchen, a living room, and one bedroom of furniture. Most downtown KC, Crossroads, and Plaza high-rise moves land here. 2-bedroom apartment or starter home (1,000–1,500 sq ft) — 45 crates and 2 dollies covers most moves. This is our most-popular size — Westport apartments, Brookside starter homes, Waldo bungalows, Mission ranch homes, and Northland townhomes all typically fit. Two-bedroom moves with a home office or hobby room can creep toward 50 crates. 3-bedroom home (1,500–2,500 sq ft) — 65 crates and 3 dollies handles the typical single-family Kansas City home with three bedrooms, two bathrooms, and a kitchen. Common across Prairie Village, Mission, Brookside, Lenexa, and Lee’s Summit. Garage storage adds to the count fast if you have tools, seasonal decor, or sports gear. 4-bedroom home (2,500–3,500 sq ft) — 85 crates and 4 dollies covers most Overland Park, Olathe, Lee’s Summit, Liberty, and Shawnee family homes. By this size, a separate guest room and home office push the crate count up, but the kitchen and living room don’t scale linearly with bedroom count. 5+ bedroom estates — 100+ crates and 5 dollies. At this size, every move is custom. We recommend starting with a 100-crate base and adding from there. Mission Hills, Leawood, and Loch Lloyd estate moves typically land here.
Room by room
If you want to size more precisely than the home-size rule, here’s the typical crate count per room: Kitchen: 4–8 crates for a basic kitchen, 8–12 if you cook a lot or have inherited china and bakeware.
Dish dividers (small inserts that turn one crate into a stacked dish protector) are available as an add-on and let you fit more breakable items per crate.
Living room: 3–5 crates. Books, decor, electronics accessories, throw blankets. Big TVs go in TV boxes, not crates. A heavy book collection can add another 5–10 crates by itself — books are dense.
Primary bedroom: 5–8 crates. Clothing, bedding, dresser contents, closet items. Don’t pack hanging clothes — use wardrobe boxes for those.
Secondary bedrooms: 4–6 crates each, depending on age and clutter level. Kids’ rooms add toys and miscellany; teen rooms add electronics and a surprising amount of “stuff.” Bathrooms: 1–2 crates each. Toiletries, towels, medications, cleaning supplies.
Home office: 5–10 crates. Files, books, electronics, supplies. Filing crates with dividers are an add-on that helps for heavy paper collections.
Garage: 8–20+ crates. This is the wildcard. Tools, sporting equipment, seasonal decor, holiday storage, automotive supplies, and yard equipment can fill more crates than the rest of the house combined. If you have a workshop or hobby setup, scale up.
Basement/attic: 5–15 crates. Whatever you’ve been storing down/up there. If it’s been there for years and you haven’t touched it, declutter first.
Factors that push the count up
Some homes need more crates than the bedroom count suggests.
Specifically:
- Heavy book collections. Books are dense.
A serious library easily adds 10–20 crates because you can’t load them deep — you need them spread across more containers to keep weight per crate manageable.
- Kitchen-heavy households. If you bake, host, or have inherited fine china, the kitchen alone can take 8–12 crates instead of the usual 4–6.
- Garage, attic, basement. Holiday decor, tools, sporting goods, and seasonal storage add up.
A finished garage with workshop tools can easily add 15–25 crates.
- Kids’ rooms. Young kids accumulate volume fast — toys, books, art supplies, sports equipment.
Plan for one extra crate per child beyond the bedroom baseline.
- Hobbies. Camping gear, woodworking, sewing, model trains, anything with kit.
Hobby supplies often need 5–10 dedicated crates.
- Pantry and bulk-buying households. Costco shoppers, prepper households, large families.
Pantry contents alone can run 3–5 crates.
Factors that pull the count down -
Recent moves.
If you moved in the last 2–3 years and decluttered then, you’re starting from a leaner baseline.
- Minimalist tendencies. Some people just have less stuff.
A studio with a meditation-app aesthetic might fit in 12 crates.
- Pre-furnished places. If you’re moving into a furnished apartment and only bringing personal items, scale way down.
- Mostly furniture, light on small items. Furniture goes in the truck directly, not in crates.
A home with lots of big furniture but few small items needs fewer crates.
When you’re between sizes
Order up.
Crates are inexpensive in bulk and overpaying by $30 for a larger package is worth it compared to running out at 11 PM on packing day.
Most rental companies (us included) pick up unused crates at no extra charge — so the only downside of ordering one size up is the small price difference. If you’re truly torn, call us. We’ll walk through your home over the phone in 5 minutes and recommend a size. We do this every day.
Quick reference
| Home size | Crates | Dollies | Package |
|---|---|---|---|
| Studio | 20 | 1 | Studio |
| 1-bedroom apartment | 30 | 2 | 1 Bedroom |
| 2-bedroom apartment/starter home | 45 | 2 | 2 Bedroom |
| 3-bedroom house | 65 | 3 | 3 Bedroom |
| 4-bedroom house | 85 | 4 | 4 Bedroom |
| 5+ bedroom estate | 100+ | 5 | 5+ Bedroom |